Automatic feeding device for a stone edge grinding machine

ABSTRACT

An automatic feeding device for a stone edge grinding machine, in which one end of the worm is connected to a stepping motor, and the other end of the worm is connected to a slipping sleeve which enables the worm to engage with or disengage from a worm gear mounted on a transmission screw rod, the transmission screw rod being connected to a head with an edge grinding wheel, has the advantages of conveniently and precisely adjusting the feeding amount, low impact, stable transmission, low noise, irreversible transmission to avoid the manual operation error, simple structure, and convenience in transmission and detachment of the power, and has the function of the self protection of overloading and compensating the excessive instruction automatically, and it has a long useful life.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 200610200162.5, filed Feb. 21, 2006, and Chinese Patent Application No. 200620200175.8, filed Feb. 22, 2006, the disclosure of both applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an automatic feeding device for a stone edge grinding machine, which belongs to the field of the construction material processing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A kind of easily abrasive edge grinding wheel is often used for grinding the edges of materials, such as the stone, ceramics and glass etc. When the edge grinds the wheel being used in a machine tool, the sensitive-feed should be performed to compensate the abrasion of the edge grinding wheel. At present, such sensitive-feed is performed usually through manual mode or pneumatic mode. However, in the manual mode, the operator must adjust the feeding amount of the edge grinding wheel based on his experience, so there has the disadvantages of complicated operation, high labor intensity, and inaccurate and nonuniform feeding. The pneumatic mode requires an air supply, and is complex in structure and control, and is high in cost.

In order to resolve the above problem, the applicant had filed a China patent application entitled with “electric magnet driving feeding device” with the application number CN 02222311.8. However, this device had the disadvantages of high impact and noise, and shorter useful life of the machine members, so that the achieved effects were undesirable.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a feeding mechanism of edge grinding wheel for an edge grinding machine, which is convenient in operation and precise in feeding, and has a simple structure, no impact, low noise, and long useful life of the machine members, so as to overcome the defects in the prior art.

The present invention is achieved by providing an automatic feeding device for a stone edge grinding machine, wherein one end of a worm (2) is connected to a stepping motor (1), the other end of the worm (2) is connected to a slipping sleeve (8) which enables the worm (2) to engage with or disengage from a worm gear (6), and the worm (2) is engaged to the worm gear (6) mounted on a transmission screw rod (5), the transmission screw rod (5) is connected to a head (14) with an edge grinding wheel (4).

In particularly, in the automatic feeding device for a stone edge grinding machine of the present invention, a pair of rotating shafts (7) vertical to the axis of the worm (2) are provided at the position where the said one end of the worm (2) is connected to the stepping motor (1), and the other end of the worm (2) is inserted into the slipping sleeve (8) which is inset into an arc groove (3) slidably, so that the worm (2) can swing around the rotating shaft (7) in a plane vertical to the axis of the worm gear while rotating around its own axis, so as to allow the worm (2) to engage with or disengage from the worm gear (6); and in order to make the worm (2) to swing, one side of the slipping sleeve (8) is connected to a spring (9), and the other side is connected to a lever mechanism (10).

According to the more particular structure of the present invention, the worm (2) is engaged to the worm gear (6) which is connected to the transmission screw rod (5), the transmission screw rod (5) is connected to the head (14) with an edge grinding wheel (4), the one end of the worm (2) is connected to the stepping motor (1), and the other end is mounted movably into the hole of the slipping sleeve (8). And one side of the slipping sleeve (8) is connected to the spring (9), and the other side is connected to the lever mechanism (10) consisting of a handle (11), an axle pin (18), a connecting bar (13) and two connecting bar pins (12).

In the present invention, the worm (2) may be connected to the stepping motor (1) with a cross-joint, and in which case, the rotating shaft (7) is canceled and the stepping motor is fixed on the outer housing (17).

In the present invention, the stepping motor (1) may be replaced with other conventional motors with the decelerating device.

The lever mechanism (10) can be replaced with other conventional transmission mechanisms.

And, the spring (9) may be replaced with a pressure spring mounted to the said other side of the slipping sleeve (8), and an eccentric shaft with a handle is mounted to the said one side of the slipping sleeve (8) to which the spring (9) is originally connected, and the said eccentric shaft holds against to the slipping sleeve (8), and in which case, the lever mechanism (10) is canceled. The slipping sleeve (8) can slide in the arc groove (3) when rotating the eccentric shaft by turning the handle.

Further, in the present invention, the transmission screw rod (5) is provided with a handwheel (15), and the manual feeding or quick feeding may be performed with the handle (15).

The automatic feeding device of the present invention adopts a stepping motor to supply the driving power, and has the characteristics of simple compact structure, stable transmission, and low noise; and the automatic feeding is achieved via the detachable transmission of the worm to the worm gear, and the wrong manual operation can be prevented since the transmission of the worm to the worm gear is irreversible. In working, the stepping motor directly drives the worm to rotate, and in turn the worm drives the worm gear to rotate, the worm gear drives the transmission screw rod to rotate, then the transmission screw rod pushed forward the edge grinding wheel, so that the minute feeding of the edge grinding wheel is achieved.

The FIG. 2 shows the engagement of the worm with the worm gear. Under the tension force of the spring (9), the worm (2) is engaged with the worm gear (6). Since the handle (11) rests against the positioning bolt (19), the worm is in a stable state, and keeps a necessary working clearance with the worm gear. At this time, the feeding of the system can be driven only by the stepping motor, and the handwheel can't be rotated with hands.

The FIG. 8 shows the case of the worm being disengaged from the worm gear. The handle (11) is turned left to rest against the bolt (20), and the spring is further stretched, so that the worm (2) is in a stable state while detaching from the worm gear (6). And at this time, the feeding of the system or quick feed can be achieved only by rotating the handwheel manually.

When bearing a large load, the worm may disengage from the worm gear against the spring force, so that it has an effect of over-loading protection, and avoids damage to the motor. The present invention controls the rotation rate of the motor with instruction to achieve the object of precisely controlling the feeding amount of the edge grinding wheel. Due to the simple operation instruction and no need of a complex controlling system, the cost is low. In case that the instruction is excessive, the worm can disengage from the worm gear against the spring force. If the motor continues rotating, the worm may engage to the worm gear after passing over one tooth pitch, so that the worm will rotate with an angle of one tooth pitch less than that required by the instruction to compensate the excessive instruction automatically. In the present invention, the transmission screw rod is provided with a handwheel, so the manual feeding or quick feeding can be achieved with the handwheel. Thus, comparing with the prior art, the present invention has the advantages of adjusting the feeding amount conveniently and precisely, low impact, stable transmission, low noise, irreversible transmission to avoid the manual operation error, simple structure, and convenience in transmission and detachment of the power, and has the function of the self protection of the overloading and compensating the excessive instruction automatically, and it has a long useful life.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the outline of the automatic feeding device for a stone edge grinding machine according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the configuration of the worm being engaged to the worm gear according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the FIG. 2 along the line A-A;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the FIG. 2 along the line B-B;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the FIG. 2 along the line C-C;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing another configuration of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the FIG. 6 along the line A-A; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing the configuration of the worm being disengaged from the worm gear.

EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Example 1

As shown in the FIGS. 1 and 2, one end of the worm (2) is connected to a stepping motor (1), the other end of the worm (2) is connected to a slipping sleeve (8) which enables the worm (2) to engage with or disengage from a worm gear (6), and the worm (2) is engaged with the worm gear (6) mounted on a transmission screw rod (5), and the transmission screw rod (5) is connected to a head (14) with the edge grinding wheel (4). A pair of rotating shafts (7) vertical to the axis of the worm (2) are provided at the position where the said one end of the worm (2) is connected to the stepping motor (1). And, the worm (2) is inserted into the hole of the slipping sleeve (8) which is inset into the arc groove (3) slidably. One side of the slipping sleeve (8) is connected to a spring (9), and the other side is connected to a lever mechanism (10) consisting of a handle (11), an axle pin (18), a connecting bar (13) and two connecting bar pins (12). The transmission screw rod (5) is equipped with a handwheel (15).

The present invention controls the rotation speed of the stepping motor by the pre-inputted instructions according to the abrasion amount of the edge grinding wheel, thereby achieving the object of controlling the feeding amount of the edge grinding wheel. The rotation speed of the stepping motor may be changed by varying the pulse frequency or by discontinuously running under a same frequency in which the time in one operation or the interval between two operations is changed. And the rotation speed of the stepping motor may also be changed by combination of the above two modes.

Example 2

The FIG. 6 shows another configuration of the present invention. The stepping motor (1) is fixed on the outer housing (17), one end of the worm (2) is connected to a stepping motor (1) through a cross-joint, and the other end of the worm (2) is connected to a slipping sleeve (8) which enables the worm (2) to engage with or disengage from a worm gear (6). And, the worm (2) is engaged with the worm gear (6) mounted on a transmission screw rod (5), and the transmission screw rod (5) is connected to a head (14) with an edge grinding wheel (4). The worm (2) is inserted into the hole of the slipping sleeve (8) which is inset into the arc groove (3) slidably. And, one side of the slipping sleeve (8) is connected to a spring (9), and the other side is connected to a lever mechanism (10) consisting of a handle (11), an axle pin (18), a connecting bar (13) and two connecting bar pins (12). And, the transmission screw rod (5) is equipped with a handwheel (15).

Example 3

One end of the worm (2) is connected to a stepping motor (1), the other end of the worm (2) is connected to a slipping sleeve (8) which enables the worm (2) to engage with or disengage from a worm gear (6), and the worm (2) is engaged to the worm gear (6) mounted on a transmission screw rod (5), and the transmission screw rod (5) is connected to a head (14) with an edge grinding wheel (4). A pair of rotating shafts (7) vertical to the axis of the worm (2) are provided at a position where the said one end of the worm (2) is connected to the stepping motor (1), and the other end of the worm (2) is inserted into a hole of the slipping sleeve (8) which is inset into a arc groove (3) slidably. The upper side of the slipping sleeve (8) is connected to a pressure spring, and the lower side rests against an eccentric wheel which is mounted on the outer housing (17) and handled to rotate with a handle. The rotation of the eccentric wheel allows the worm (2) to engage with or disengage from the worm gear (6). And, the transmission screw rod (5) is equipped with a handwheel (15).

Example 4

One end of the worm (2) is connected to a stepping motor (1), the other end of the worm (2) is connected to a slipping sleeve (8) which enables the worm (2) to engage with or disengage from the worm gear (6), and the worm (2) is engaged to the worm gear (6) mounted on a transmission screw rod (5), and the transmission screw rod (5) is connected to a head (14) with an edge grinding wheel (4). One end of the worm (2) is connected to the stepping motor (1) mounted on the outer housing (17) through a cross-joint (16). And the other end of the worm (2) is inserted into the hole of the slipping sleeve (8) which is inset into an arc groove (3) slidably. The lower side of the slipping sleeve (8) is connected to an eccentric wheel mounted on the outer housing (17) of the machine, and the upper side is connected to a pressure spring. The eccentric wheel is provided with a handle, and the eccentric wheel may be rotated with the handle to allow the worm (2) to engage with or disengage from the worm gear (6). And the transmission screw rod (5) is equipped with a handwheel (15).

In all the above examples, the said stepping motor (1) may be replaced with a conventional motor with a decelerating device under a different control mode that the feeding amount is adjusted by the manner of discontinuously supplying the current. 

1. An automatic feeding device for a stone edge grinding machine, comprising: a stepping motor connected to one end of a worm, the other end of the worm being connected to a slipping sleeve which enables the worm to engage with or disengage from a worm gear; and a transmission screw, wherein, the worm is engaged with the worm gear mounted on the transmission screw rod which is further connected to a head with an edge grinding wheel.
 2. The automatic feeding device for a stone edge grinding machine according to claim 1, wherein a pair of rotating shafts vertical to the axis of the worm are provided at the position where the said one end of the worm is connected to the stepping motor, the other end of the worm is inserted into the slipping sleeve which is slidably inset into an arc groove, and the slipping sleeve is connected to a spring at one side thereof and is connected to a lever mechanism at the other side thereof.
 3. The automatic feeding device for a stone edge grinding machine according to claim 1, wherein the worm is engaged with the worm gear which is connected to the transmission screw rod, the transmission screw rod is connected to the head with an edge grinding wheel, and one end of the worm is connected to the stepping motor, and the other end is movably mounted into the hole of the slipping sleeve, one side of the slipping sleeve is connected to the spring, and the other side is connected to the lever mechanism consisting of a handle, an axle pin, a connecting bar and two connecting bar pins.
 4. The automatic feeding device for a stone edge grinding machine according to claim 1, wherein the worm is connected to the stepping motor through a cross-joint, and the said stepping motor is fixed on an outer housing.
 5. The automatic feeding device for a stone edge grinding machine according to claim 1, wherein the said lever mechanism may be replaced with other conventional transmission mechanisms.
 6. The automatic feeding device for a stone edge grinding machine according to claim 1, wherein the said spring may be replaced with a pressure spring connected to the other side of the slipping sleeve, and an eccentric shaft with a rotating handle is mounted to the side of the slipping sleeve to which the spring is connected originally, the said eccentric shaft holds against the slipping sleeve.
 7. The automatic feeding device for a stone edge grinding machine according to claim 1, wherein the stepping motor may be replaced with other conventional motors with decelerating device.
 8. An automatic feeding device for a stone edge grinding machine according to claim 1, wherein the said transmission screw rod is mounted with a handwheel. 